A great summer hike to the Cascades

Here are some photos from our recent trip to the Cascades in Pembroke, Virginia.  The trail is easy and very scenic as you follow the creek the whole way to the falls.  This was Kali’s first hiking expedition and she was a little trooper.  We learned our lesson though, and have since bought her a [...]

Costa Rica – the trip of a lifetime! Pura Vida!

We are just back from our amazing, un-freaking believable trip to Costa Rica for 10 days to celebrate our 10th anniversary.  We covered a lot of ground and went to La Fortuna (Arenal), Uvita and the Osa Peninsula.  I am so sad to be back.  Usually I am ready to go home, but not this [...]

Nature Paradise in the Osa Peninsula

The Osa Peninsula was our favorite part of the Costa Rica trip.  You are right in the middle of the rainforest with nothing for miles around and the lodge is perched on the side of the mountain.
El Remanso
The lodge is casually elegant and rustic and consists of a large open air restaurant, seating areas, bar [...]

Beautiful beach, spa and mountains – Uvita, Costa Rica

Sunday, June 14th
Today we left the beautiful Arenal Volcano and headed to the airport for our first flight on Nature Air.  I started getting really nervous and my stomach was doing flips.  The airport was an old lechería (milk factory) and was essentially a bar.

There were no airline employees present when we arrived either.  So, [...]

Volcanoes & Snakes (Arenal, Costa Rica)

Two days ago we arrived in Costa Rica for our first visit here ever and to celebrate our 10th anniversary.
A very nice young man came to pick us up at the airport to take us to La Fortuna.  At first glance, everything reminded Erick of Puerto Rico. Our driver, Norman, stopped at a local restaurant [...]

Our baby birds are growing…

So, our baby birds have feathers now. Here’s the transformation…
Just eggs…

Just born…

Growing…

Fish Babies

Our African Cichlids have had babies over the past 6 months at various times. We have let them out of the fry containers into the main tank now, so I have finally been able to get photos. We also found yet another baby this morning that is so tiny. So, as of now, we have [...]

Yard Work Can Be Fun

Erick and I were out working in the yard this morning and stopped to have some fun with Mollie. Here she is doing her favorite summertime activity, playing with the hose.

Then, we took the ferns down so that Erick could finish power washing the deck and we discovered a bird’s [...]

Landscaping, Plants, etc.

The landscape at our house is pretty barren – neat and nice, but not much of interest. Therefore, I have been wanting to plant some things to make a more interesting visual landscape. But, I don’t want to just start randomly planting things so that it ends up looking like a hodge-podge of [...]